In a whirlwind of weekend negotiations, House Republican leaders seized the spotlight with a potentially game-changing deal aimed at unifying their party behind a short-term spending solution. It felt like déjà vu, reminiscent of Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s previous triumphs in rallying GOP ranks, such as his skillful maneuvering during the conservative debt-ceiling standoff that eventually led to an improbable bipartisan agreement averting federal default.
However, this time around, the euphoria of victory is veiled in uncertainty. As details of the deal, meticulously forged by leaders from the Main Street Caucus and House Freedom Caucus, began to surface, a chorus of conservative hardliners erupted in dissent. They vehemently rejected a proposal entailing an 8% reduction in funding for most non-defense programs and a bundle of GOP border policies, all while extending government funding for a mere month.
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) thundered, “I will not support this 167-page surrender to Joe Biden.” Meanwhile, Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.) decried it as a “continuation of Nancy Pelosi’s budget and Joe Biden’s policies.” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) minced no words, bluntly posting on the X social network, “I’m a NO,” and Rep. Eli Crane (R-Ariz.) echoed with an emphatic “NO.”
The cacophony of objections swelled further, with additional dissenters, including Reps. Dan Bishop (R-N.C.), Cory Mills (R-Fla.), Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), Tony Gonzales (R-Texas), Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.), Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.), and Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), and more poised to join the fray.
For McCarthy, the math is unforgiving. He can ill afford to lose more than four votes, assuming all Democrats rally against the measure (a near certainty), and assuming all his members are present this week—an increasingly dubious prospect with at least three members temporarily sidelined.
This chaotic episode underscores the unruly nature of the House GOP. Even with Freedom Caucus leadership initially endorsing the deal, it rapidly crumbled as a significant faction of its own members publicly rejected it.
While there’s still time before the anticipated Thursday vote for McCarthy and Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) to fine-tune the proposal and win over the holdouts, the task ahead looms monumental. These lawmakers vividly recall their dissatisfaction with the outcome of the debt-limit negotiations and are wary of granting McCarthy too much latitude.
Irrespective of the resolution’s fate, it does little to bring Congress closer to averting a shutdown a mere 13 days away. President Biden and the Democratic Senate remain unlikely to embrace a top-line spending cut coupled with a barrage of partisan policy riders just to keep the government operational. The clock ticks, and the Capitol Hill drama continues unabated.
